Friday, March 26, 2010

Council enforcing parking under contract law ...

Exeter Council issue the tickets 'under contract law' and receive the money. Where is the appeals process? Where is the scrutiny? Who authorised this and under what powers?A full investigation needs to be launched immediately into this and all the other 'inconsistencies' in parking enforcement in the Devon area.Anyone with information can pass it on to neil@parkingappeals.co.uk

COUNCILLORS have backed plans for the city council to pull out of patrolling the car park at Exeter’s main hospital.The council’s civil enforcement officers will continue issuing fines at the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital until May 31. After that the hospital has to make its own arrangements.The council suspended enforcement in October after discovering it was issuing tickets under the wrong traffic order.

The mistake has left the authority having to pay back £35,000 in refunds to motorists who were issued with tickets.The city council’s executive committee was told that enforcement had started again this month following a new agreement with the hospital.

But it would cease at the end of May because of the “disproportionate amount of staff time to oversee it”.

John Rigby, the city council’s director for economy and development, told the committee that discussions with the RD&E had concluded with an agreement to stop enforcement.Councillor Percy Prowse said the council had been too slow in realising its mistakes in issuing tickets at the car park.He said: “I requested in May last year that we ought to suspend issuing tickets, but it didn’t stop until October.”He said motorists who have been issued with tickets at the site this month may also be entitled to a refund.

But Mr Rigby told the Echo the council had a legal agreement to patrol the site and the council was confident tickets issued this month were legal.He said: “The city council is enforcing the RD&E’s own parking policy on the basis of a contractual arrangement in accordance with the provisions of the Local Authorities (Goods and Services) Act 1970.“It is satisfied the new arrangements are enforceable and in accordance with the RD&E’s new parking policy the council has been issuing penalty tickets since Monday, March 1. The contract will end on May 31.”

A spokesman for the RD&E NHS Hospital Trust said options were being considered and no decision had yet been made.